Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

with the plane’s limited seating, few orders coming in, and the high cost of production, it was clear that even with exaggerated estimates the project would never be profitable.

Options (things) can be taken away, while our core ability to choose (free will) cannot be.

Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.

FOCUS What’s Important Now? Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply. —Thich Nhat Hanh

John Carlin, “If the World’s Greatest Chef Cooked for a Living, He’d Starve,” Guardian, December 11, 2006, http://observer.theguardian.com/foodmonthly/futureoffood/story/0,,1969713,00.html

simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real”).

a good editor is someone who uses deliberate subtraction

the best place to look is for small changes we could make in the things we do often. There is power in steadiness and repetition.”

normative conformity – is no longer a matter of life and death,